Blood is Thicker
by Some Totally Original Username
Summary: A man and his wife find themselves in the role usually given to teenage, female protagonists in fanfictions. Soon, in trying to find their way home, they find themselves tangled up in one of the most famous stories of their time. How is Robert supposed to choose between characters he's loved since he was young, and his family? Rated T because of reasons.
1. Chapter 1

A sound of laughing could be heard in the small, cozy home on the outskirts of Lawrence. Crickets filled the winter night air with their music as an owl watched the house with wide, knowing eyes. Christmas lights were along the roof and around the door, and a warm yellow light was shining from the upstairs corner window.

Inside, a man and a woman laughed as they flicked paint at each other. They were in the process of painting a room a creamy yellow. Teddy bear and stork decorations were out in the hallway, along with a crib, changing table, trunk of toys and rocking chair.

Robert Thompson grinned and wrapped his arm around his wife's waist, kissing her playfully. "Careful, now." He teased. "Make sure you don't wake him up."

Leigh Thompson pulled away with another grin. "Make sure we don't wake _her_ up." She corrected, rubbing her swelling stomach.

Robert shrugged, relenting to his wife's rule. "Fair enough." He said with another smile, kissing her forehead. "Are you sure you don't want to know what it is? We can always go back and ask the doctor to do the sonogram anyway."

Leigh nodded firmly. "I'm certain. I want it to be a surprise."

Robert shrugged again, and looked around the chaotic room. "Looks like we made a mess of this." He said with a sheepish laugh.

Leigh crossed her arms with a smirk. "You started it." She said.

"Sure I did." He ran a hand through his hair, leaving traces of yellow in his dark brown hair. Leigh burst into a fit of giggles at the sight of it, and he sighed with a smile. "I'm gonna get showered and go to the store real quick. I'll be right back."

Leigh nodded. "I'll try to clean up the mess you made." She said. As her husband left, she rubbed her stomach again with a faint smile. Even after about five months, she couldn't believe that she was actually having their baby. It seemed too good to be true – they were finally starting a family. They both had good friends, good jobs, a great house, and a great marriage. They lived in a small-town community with great schools and great kids for their child to be friends with. She was almost waiting for the catch.

Robert quickly showered and scrubbed off the paint, then threw on some clothes and trotted downstairs. "I'll be right back!" He called as he grabbed the keys to the car.

"I love you! Be safe!" Leigh called from upstairs.

"I will!" He grinned and closed the door.

.

A wind howled outside the house. Leigh hugged herself and bit her lip nervously. She always worried about Robert, but something about this – being alone in the house, having him gone – just felt… it felt… odd. It felt wrong, somehow. She shivered and rubbed her arms, dismissing it on mood swings making her feel paranoid.

She dipped the brush into the paint and added another stroke with a flourish. "I hope you like yellow." She said, painting with one hand and resting her hand on her stomach. She started to hum a song, then stopped when she felt a kick. She laughed and dropped the brush, resting both hands on her stomach. Yes, the baby was kicking against her full-speed now. "I'm here, baby." She said with a smile. "Mommy's here."

There was a sudden knock on the door. Leigh jumped, her heart racing. She crept down the stairs and moved to the door, almost scared of what she would see. She looked through the peephole… and saw an old, bent-over woman who looked like she hadn't slept in days.

Leigh opened up the door immediately. "Ma'am, are you alright?" She asked worriedly. She helped the woman inside.

"Thank you, dear." The woman croaked. "My… my car broke down some way down the road, and I… I had to find help since no one was passing by. Oh my, my feet are tired…"

"Here you are." Leigh helped her sit down in one of their armchairs in front of the fireplace and next to their Christmas tree. "I'll go get you some coffee, then we can call for help."

"Oh no, dearest, that won't be necessary." She said. "Just the coffee, please."

Leigh bustled into the kitchen and made some instant coffee. She poured a little glass of cream and got the container of sugar before going back into the den. "Here you go." She said, sitting across from the old woman, who eagerly drank her coffee without adding any sugar or milk. Leigh herself had a glass of warm tea, which she had to keep her hands warm more than anything. As she sipped at it, she examined the old woman. Her back was hunched and weathered from age. Her hair was scraggly and white, her face like old tanned leather. "Where did your car break down?" Leigh asked. "Maybe I-."

"Surely a young girl like you doesn't live alone." The old woman said, cutting her off with her eyes fixed on the table.

Leigh cleared her throat. "As a matter of fact, I don't." She said. "My husband lives with me, and we're expecting our first baby."

Instead of the usual flurry of congratulations and questions, the old woman just smiled somewhat sinisterly. "Isn't that nice?" She said. "Tell me, dear, what do you want it to be?"

Leigh turned her cup of tea in her hands. "Well, I want a girl, and my husband wants a boy. But we're waiting until it's born to find out, and we'll both be happy either way-."

"If you could choose right now, which would you?"

Leigh felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She slowly wrapped her arm around her stomach as if to protect it. "I don't know." She said.

"Come on, every mother wants either one of the other."

She hesitated. "… I guess… I'd like… a…" She licked her lips. "I really don't know. Ma'am, I mean no offence, but I-I'm not comfortable talking about my personal life like this."

At that moment, someone hammered on the door. Leigh jumped, but before she could stand up it opened to let in Robert. "I'm home!" He called, then spotted the old woman in the chair focusing on her coffee. "Who's this?" He asked cautiously.

Leigh stood up. "She needed help with her car." She said. "Uh, ma'am, I never got your name."

"Oh, don't worry about it, dear." The old woman smiled crookedly at Robert. "Well, handsome young man, why don't you join us? We were just discussing children."

Robert glanced at Leigh, then took her hand and slowly lowered her into the armchair before dragging another chair over to sit beside her. Leigh cleared her throat and squeezed Robert's hand. "Do _you_ have any children, ma'am?" She asked tensely, wanting to turn the subject away from _her_ child.

The old woman smiled wistfully. "Oh yes." She said… sadly. "Yes, at one time, I had quite a few children." She sighed. "But that was long ago. I suppose the young are always rebellious against their parents. One day, you'll understand what I'm talking about."

Robert glanced at his wife and cleared his throat. "Ma'am, do you want us to call a tow truck for you?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, don't bother. I just need someone to help me push it to a gas station, since I can't do it myself. Would you help me with that, Robert dear?"

Robert was about to answer when her reply sunk in. "I never told you my name." He said slowly. Leigh's face became pale and drawn. He slowly stood up, his six-foot-one frame blocking the lights from the Christmas tree, his body tensing up. "How did you know?"

"I'm a very good guesser." The old woman said with another eerie smile. "Wouldn't you say, Leigh?"

Leigh gasped and gripped the arms of her chair, her eyes wide and her heart racing. "Get out of my house." Robert demanded in a low voice. "_Now!_" He yelled when she didn't move, only smiled serenely.

"Now young man, that's hardly a way to-."

"I don't _care_ who you are! _Get out and get away from my family!_"

She looked up and grinned as he started to move in front of Leigh. Leigh screamed as the old woman's eyes turned milky white and static crackled in the air. _"As you wish._" The old woman hissed.

Then the couple were knocked back by an explosion and started to fall.

.

_He was falling._

_He was weightless._

_He was thirsty._

_He was hurting._

_"You must learn, boy…"_

_He was falling…_

Robert's back hit the hard ground, the air whooshing out of his lungs. He coughed and gagged, gasping for breath as he rolled onto his side, red and black spots dancing across his vision. "Leigh." He panted, his voice hoarse and raspy. "Leigh! Where are you!"

"Robert!"

He pushed himself to his feet and doggedly jogged over the rocky terrain towards his wife, who grabbed him in a tight hug, shivering and crying. "Shh." He murmured, rubbing her back in a circle. "It's alright. We're together. It's gonna be alright." He pulled her back and cupped her face in his hands. "Is the baby alright?"

Leigh nodded. "I didn't land very hard." She said. She knotted her hands in his shirt and looked around. They were in a dark, cavernous cave. The more she looked, the more her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she started to see columns and stairs and fallen rocks. "Where are we?" She whispered. "How did we get here?"

"I don't know." He looked around as well, looking for anything that could him any hint where they were. When he found none, he sighed and put his arm around Leigh's waist. "Let's go." He said.

"Where?"

"We're going to try and find a way out."

She nodded and leaned into Robert, and the two of then started to pick their way over fallen boulders and columns, heading towards a massive staircase in the hopes that maybe, they could find their way out. They were like two tiny ants in a huge, huge world.


	2. Chapter 2

**oh my fucking god i am the worst updater i'm so sorry i love you thanks for sticking around if you have here have an update**

**.**

"Robert?" Leigh whispered hoarsely.

Robert immediately turned around from where he was watching the rest of the chasm with a look of concern. "Yeah, honey?" He asked.

Leigh sighed from where she was sleeping on her back, his jacket not doing much to soften the hard rocks. Rob scooted over to lace his fingers through hers. "We're fine." He promised, reading her mind. She smiled; he always had a way of doing that. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you, or our baby. Okay? We're gonna get out of here and go home, and we're going to live a normal life and live happily ever after together and laugh about how scared we were. Do you trust me?"

She nodded and squeezed his hand. "Who was that woman?" She asked, her thoughts going back to the old woman who was probably responsible for this. She'd never seen anything like this in her life…

He sighed, shaking his head. "She's gone now." He said. To be honest, he couldn't stop thinking about her either. It was all crazy, like some kind of fairy tale. If she was some kind of witch, which he didn't believe in, she would have had to use magic, which he didn't believe in, and that would create an unbeatable scenario, which he didn't believe in either.

Leigh shifted to lie on her back with her head in his lap. They used to do this all the time in college when they'd started dating, just laying in the quad and not doing anything. Now, however, everything was different; but it still felt comforting. "Rob, I – I'm not sure if she was trying to hurt us." She admitted.

"Leigh, a strange woman who we've never met before comes waltzing in asking strange questions and calling us by name – that's cause enough for me to tell her to get out of my house. With the baby, I don't want to take any chances." He half-smiled. "You know, I'll bet the paint has dried by now."

Leigh laughed tiredly, her eyes drooping like they were made of lead. "You have no shame." She murmured before turning her back on him, trying to fall asleep on her side.

Rob sighed and looked around him for the thousandth time. They had been in this giant mine of some sort for at least a day that they could tell, with dead and decomposing bodies all around them. They'd holed up in a kind of side room with an old well covered up by rotting wooden boards, but neither of them thought it was a good idea to try and drink the water. They were lucky to have shelter, but they wouldn't be able to do it forever. They needed food – especially Leigh. They needed to get out, quickly. The entire thing looked like something out of a fantasy book.

Rob picked up a rusty old sword from next to him and swept the dust off, sticking it into his belt. Something was better than nothing, he reasoned, even if he had no idea what to do. What _was_ this place? With swords and bodies and… It was a nightmare, that's what.

As Leigh slept, Rob swore that he was getting his family out of there, even if it killed him in the process.

Leigh shifted on the rocks, trying to get comfortable and sleep. She needed it; the baby was getting restless because she hadn't slept at all. Or eaten, for that matter, but she pushed it out of her mind. Thinking like that would only lead to panicking. But she couldn't stop; what if all of this stress made her miscarry? Oh God…

She must have drifted off eventually, because she woke up suddenly, feeling cold and alone. "Rob?" She called out nervously. No response. She pushed herself up with a bit of effort and looked around. "Rob? Robert?" Her voice echoed in the dark caverns as she hugged herself, feeling fright and loneliness creep into her. _God, I'm pathetic. As soon as my husband leaves, I get paranoid-._

She heard a sudden yell, and a clash of metal on metal. Leigh spun around and scrambled towards the sounds, terror throwing all logic out of the window.

Rob grunted and shoved the man who'd attacked him off of him, only to be grabbed from behind by another man and have his scavenged sword knocked out of his hands by another man who was obviously much better with a sword than he was. Fires flared to life all around him in a commotion of noise and pain and movement. He broke out of the arms holding him in place and turned around to punch the man's jaw as hard as he could. It was easily deflected, and the man delivered blows to his forehead and chest that sent him stumbling back, pain almost blinding him.

"_Robert!_"

His eyes widened as he saw Leigh intercepted by someone with long blond hair as she sprinted towards him. "_NO!_" He grunted as his arms were grabbed and pinned behind his back, making each struggle send a flare of pain up his shoulders. Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to care about his shoulders. "Let her go! Please, just let her go! _Leigh!_"

Leigh pulled out of the man's grip on her arm – which was already loosening – and hurried to Rob's side, throwing her arms around him. The group of men around them came into focus as he was released as well. Her eyes widened as she saw the blood running into his eyes, her trembling hands cupping his face. "Oh my God. Rob, are you okay-?"

"I'm fine, you?"

"Yeah." She hugged him tighter and looked around to the people watching them. "Who are you?" She asked.

"We should be asking you the same question." One of the men – a rough-looking man in dark clothes – said, his sword still in his hand. There was him, another man with lighter hair and clothes (also with a sword), the blonde man with an angled face who'd grabbed Leigh (with an arrow notched in his bow), an old man holding a tall staff that was producing most of the light from a crystal set in it, a burly man gripping a massive axe, and four men who were about as tall as small children, holding respective weapons and torches.

Leigh and Rob exchanged worried glances, then Leigh sighed and took his hand in hers. Rob swiped his arm across his forehead, hoping that the blood would stop soon, because Leigh looked ready to build a hospital with her own two hands. "My name is Robert." He said. "This is my wife, Leigh. We…" He wet his lips. "To be honest, we don't know where we are. We were at home, and something happened, and when we looked up, we were here. We think that we were kidnapped or something."

The men with their swords (and bow, and axe) drawn exchanged critical glances and raised eyebrows. "We're not lying!" Leigh blurted out, gripping Rob's hand. "I know it sounds like it, but if I had a choice, I would be anywhere in the world but here. Please, you have to believe us."

After another round of silent-looking-back-and-forth, the dark-haired man nodded and sheathed his sword. "I am Strider, Ranger of the north." He said. "These are my friends and companions. We are travelers."

Rob nodded, though the name rang a bell in the back of his mind. "Well, do you know a way out? Or to the nearest city?"

"No. The entrance was destroyed when we entered, and we have not yet found an exit. You are welcome to travel with us until you find your own way."

Grins split onto the couple's faces. "Thank you so much." Leigh said, so relieved that she could have cried. Either that, or it was the hormones. Maybe a mixture of both.

The man shook his head with a tight little smile. "Not at all, lady. And I apologize for attacking your husband, but there are things besides us that dwell here in the dark. It does good to be careful."

The group gradually introduced themselves to Leigh and Rob. Neither could even begin to describe their relief at having somewhere to go, a way to escape. Leigh could sleep well and not worry about what could happen while she was out, or what she would find when she woke up.

She opened her eyes after maybe a few hours of startling peaceful sleep to find most of the group still fast asleep. She pushed herself up and looked around, then saw the old man sitting near the edge of the group. "Care to join an old man in his thoughts?" He asked without turning, and Leigh jumped in surprise before deciding that she had nothing to lose, pushing herself to her feet, walking to where the man was and sitting next to him. He was smoking something from a long pipe, and while she normally hated smoking – her dad had been a chain smoker and had died of lung cancer before her wedding – the smell of it was oddly comforting. The man himself seemed a familiar kind of man; he looked so old, but he still had that air of knowing and wisdom around him. "This is a dangerous place for a woman in your condition." He said, nodding to her. "How did you say you came here?"

Leigh tightened her arms around her torso. "Like my husband said, we must have been kidnapped."

The old man – Gandalf – hummed and nodded, blowing out another smoke ring. It drifted away into the darkness and disappeared. "You came here in great sorcery." He mused.

"Pardon?"

"The other night, I felt a disturbance, though I thought it best to wait until further developments." Gandalf gave her a half-smile. "I would take that to be you and your husband arriving in Middle-Earth."

Leigh stared, then nodded and looked down at the chasm in front of them. "So it was… magic, or something." She sighed and rolled her shoulders. "I think that some kind of witch sent us here." Gandalf turned his head and raised his eyebrows, and Leigh cleared her throat. "I… it was late at night, and an old woman came to my door in the middle of a snowstorm, and I took her inside. She knew Rob and I's names, and…" She shook her head. "Rob tried to make her leave, and her eyes just went white, and then we were falling and landed here."

Gandalf was watching her closely, his brow knitted together in interest. He slowly nodded his head when she finished her story. "Interesting." He murmured, then took another deep puff of smoke. "Well. You and your husband had the misfortune of stumbling into the path of what sounds to be a particularly nasty sorceress. There are few wizards such as myself in Middle-Earth, but there are plenty of powerful men and women who have dabbled in the magical crafts."

Leigh laughed and shook her head. "This is incredible. Where I come from… magic doesn't really exist. Well, I think it once did, but it left a long time ago." She wet her lips. "Thank you again for helping us. I just want to get home before the baby comes."

Gandalf gave her a knowing smile. "You won't have to worry about that." He said sagely, then stood. "If you would wake your husband. We need to keep a swift pace. There are many dark things in this mine."

"Funny, Strider said something like that earlier." She took his offered hand and stood.

"Yes, we agree on many things, and therefore share many thoughts." He smiled at her; Leigh liked it when he smiled. He reminded her of her grandfather, when she was a little girl.

She shook her head and went to wake Rob up.

If there was one thing that Aragorn could appreciate about their new companions, it was how truly honest and good-hearted they seemed to be, as well as how Robert treated his wife as if she were a queen with every step they took. As they walked through Moria, he tried to puzzle them out. He and Gandalf had discussed the traces of wizardry that had been around them and had ruled out the possibility of either one of them being an illegitimate Istari – but that left the question of exactly _what_ had happened and brought them to the middle of Moria.

"Strider, right?"

He glanced up to see Robert walking alongside him and nodded. "I… Where are we? We honestly have no idea where this is or how we've gotten here."

"We are in the Mines of Moria, in the Misty Mountains." He answered, frowning slightly as no look of recognition passed the man's face.

"I… I'm sorry, where is that again?"

"Surely you are familiar with the geography of Middle-Earth." Again, no recognition. This was… strange.

"Where do you come from, son of Thom?" Boromir asked in passing, looking just as confused as Aragorn, if not wary and cautious.

Rob rolled his shoulders. Even his attire was odd – he was a young man about as old as Boromir, but he was clean-shaven and unscarred, which was unusual for someone of his physique. "I'm from a city called Lawrence. It's in America." He explained, as if everyone knew where it was.

Aragorn's frown deepened. Neither of those names were familiar to him. "What are the neighboring nations?" He asked in an attempt to figure out a relative location.

Rob's brow furrowed. "Well, on either side is an ocean. To the north is Canada, and Mexico is to the south. Do you really not know where it is?"

Aragorn sighed and shook his head. "This is as unusual for me as it is for you."

"Robert does not hail from Middle-Earth." Gandalf called back to them. "Sorcery brought our guests to us, and not through their free will, I should think. His home is very different from ours."

Robert scoffed and muttered under his breath, earning the Men's sharp eyes. "What was that?" Boromir asked.

"I don't believe in magic." Robert glanced between them, and up ahead at Gandalf. All of this was eerily familiar; it was right there, almost within his grasp in his mind, but just beyond it… "Whoever the woman who brought us here was, she had to have used another way, because magic doesn't-."

"Rob!" Leigh pushed between them and grabbed Robert's elbow, glancing at Aragorn. "Rob, leave it be. We'll talk about it later."

"You have a lot to learn about this world, Robert." Aragorn murmured, more to himself than anyone. He knew as well as any native of Middle-Earth that magic was indeed rampant in their world; so how could this man blatantly deny the existence of what was right in front of him?

There were more questions being brought up than there were being answered.


End file.
